The Page 69 Test: "The Missing Ink"

Thursday, July 9, 2009

"The Missing Ink"

Karen E. Olson, author of the Annie Seymour mystery series, applied the “Page 69 Test” to her new novel, The Missing Ink, and reported the following:

In the first tattoo shop mystery, The Missing Ink, tattooist Brett Kavanaugh is drawn into a missing persons case when a potential client disappears. The last place she was seen was at Brett’s shop, commissioning a devotion tattoo with the name of her fiancé in a heart.

I had no idea what Page 69 would tell me, but when I flipped to it, I realized that it does give a clear picture of Brett’s personality, as well as Bitsy’s, her shop manager. It’s also pivotal in illustrating the surprise when it’s discovered that the name the client wanted on the tattoo was not the name of her fiancé, thus, pulling the reader into the story even further.

But Bitsy wasn’t the only one getting screwed.

Chip Manning was, too.

Because the camera zoomed in on my sketch. Complete with the “Matthew” inside the heart.

Alison Cho didn’t notice. She put the piece of paper in her lap and thanked me for my time.

It was over.

I stood up, trying to yank the mike and wire off my person and was happy to see the producer come over to me. I assumed he’d help me out, but his mouth was set in a grim line.

“That drawing. It was the wrong one.”

Alison’s head snapped back. “What?”

“It was the wrong drawing.” He looked at Bitsy, who’d come up next to me.

“Why didn’t you give me the right one? Was it because we didn’t put you on camera?”

So Bitsy’s attitude had not gone unnoticed.

From the look on her face, I could see she was going to say something she’d probably regret, so I jumped in. “It was the right one.”

His gaze moved from Bitsy to me. “But it said Matthew. Not Chip, or even Bruce.”

“That’s right.” I met his stare.

“You mean she wanted a tattoo with another man’s name on it?”